“What kind of job are you going to find me. Oh, no, never mind, it’s fine. Actually, I didn’t call to ask you for money… Cheongmyeong, your birthday was a few days ago, wasn’t it. Oh, I’m so sorry. Mom hasn’t been thinking straight lately.”
“What does a birthday matter at thirty. Don’t worry about it. Mom’s… already busy taking care of Noona, anyway.”
Birthday. A birthday that had already passed. Mio thought back to his own birthday the previous autumn. As it happened, Mio had spent that birthday in cat form. It wasn’t as if it had never happened before — his hyungs had hired a chef and gifted him a three-tiered cat-specific birthday cake. That autumn, when the green leaves were turning gold, fallen leaves would occasionally spiral through the sky on the wind. Mio had eaten savory tuna-flavored cake until his belly was stuffed full, under a zelkova tree decorated with balloons, together with Nini and Grassleaf and his other cat friends.
“I’m going to hang up. I have to go to work.”
His voice, gone cloudy, forced itself back into its usual tone with some difficulty. Mio watched him quietly.
He seemed like someone who just lived however he pleased without a second thought — but he looked lonelier than I expected. Whatever had happened within his family, Mio had found himself quietly noticing the things he and Cheongmyeong had in common. A subtle loneliness. A solitude of never quite fitting in completely among people. Mio was neither cat nor human. Being a Shifter — something in between, belonging to neither side — had thrown him into confusion more times than he could count.
“May, let’s eat some kibble.”
Cheongmyeong set down his phone and spoke, meeting the pair of green eyes looking up at him. The heaviness that had swallowed him like darkness had lifted somewhat from his face. It wasn’t so much pity Mio felt for him — he simply wanted to see him smile again. So when the hand holding a single piece of kibble extended toward his lips, he decided not to turn away from it this time.
“Nyaang.”
“You’re eating now. What was that. Were you playing hard to get?”
Playing hard to get? He had no idea what that meant. But Cheongmyeong’s eyes curved softly and his cheeks dimpled, so Mio stuck his tongue out again and accepted the kibble.
“Or do you just like it better when Dad feeds you one by one? You really are a baby, May.”
That’s not it… I did it because you looked sad, you idiot.
Cheongmyeong set Mio on his lap and fed him kibble by hand for quite a while. While Mio was crunching through the thoroughly flavorless pellets with his molars, Cheongmyeong would gently touch the tip of his tail or press down softly on the squishy pads of his paws. The food bowl was already half empty.
“I should go to the gym.”
He glanced at the clock on the wall across from him and murmured, prodding Mio’s pink lips. He seemed to enjoy the squeaky, rubber-seal-like texture of them.
I was going to bite him after exactly twelve more touches — but then he said he was going out, and Mio’s foggy mind snapped sharply awake. He thrashed his body in the hand holding him and flailed in protest, and Cheongmyeong gave his bottom a light smack from below.
“Nyaang!”
“You want to come along?”
Obviously. The door to this place has to open for me to escape, doesn’t it?
The man’s handsome lips parted slightly — then closed again. He carefully supported Mio under his belly, brought him up to eye level, and said:
“Aren’t cats supposed to want to stay inside?”
That’s only if I’ve accepted this place as my own territory. This isn’t my territory. Mio could have screamed with frustration. But no matter how loud he cried, what came out of his mouth wasn’t a human voice — just a cat’s meow.
Hmm. Even so, Chae Mio knew the power cats held. He’d seen it — the way people would be completely disarmed, like ice cream left out in the scorching sun, when a cat that had only ever been aloof and cold would suddenly approach and press its head against them.
So Mio lowered the corners of his eyes as far as they would go and parted his lips just below his rosy little nose. His pink tongue peeked out — then he set his small, round head down into Cheongmyeong’s palm and played cute.
Kuuuu~ng. An adorable sound resonated from somewhere deep in his throat.
Please. Come with me. No — let’s go out together.
Come on. Come on.
“No matter how much you beg, it’s not happening. It’s dangerous outside. You’re not a dog. I can’t even put a leash on you.”
“Kiing……”
“No.”
Unnecessarily firm about this. Mio, torn with indecision, shot the man a petulant glare — then without warning, jumped straight down to the floor. The bold arc of it startled Yu Cheongmyeong.
“You’ll hurt yourself!”
I won’t hurt myself over something like this. Mio had fallen from much higher places. He landed safely on the floor and made his way straight to the front door. He extended his pathetic little claws from between his white paws and started scratching at it. He made sure to keep glancing back over his shoulder. It was a full performance of wanting to go out.
Cheongmyeong said nothing, only watching Mio in silence. After a brief deliberation, Mio trotted over to him on his stubby little legs, raised one paw to point at the front door, and looked up.
Open the door.
“……It really looks like you’re asking me to open the door.”
That’s right!
Cheongmyeong tickled under Mio’s chin and murmured. The fact that the man was actually understanding him correctly started to fill Mio with excitement. Too delighted to contain himself, instead of nodding, he rumbled a purr and squeezed his eyes shut. It was a habit unique to Mio — something that always happened whenever he purred.
“I just cannot win against you, can I.”
A vague smile played over his skeptical expression, and he pressed a hand to his forehead like he had no choice.
“Alright. Let’s go, May.”
Cheongmyeong spoke as if he were taking him somewhere new — then deposited Mio at the same pediatric clinic they’d visited before. Mio curled into a ball inside the carrier. If he’d just kept carrying me around in his pocket like before, escaping would’ve been so much easier. The man had listened to all sorts of advice at the pet shop yesterday and had been insistent that cats absolutely had to go in a carrier.
There’ll be some way, though. Mio pricked his ears in the dark. The man intended to leave Mio at the clinic and step out for a bit.
“I’ll be back soon, so be good. And don’t cause any trouble.”
With that gentle voice, a finger tapped lightly against his tiny muzzle and withdrew.
During the time Cheongmyeong was away at the gym, two large men crouched down in front of Mio’s carrier and pressed their faces close.
“He’s really cute. About the size of a grenade.”
“I’m telling you, Yu Cheongmyeong definitely snatched this one straight from its mom by force. Look at that coat. Pure white.”
“If it’s him…… that seems entirely possible.”
“Completely possible.”
The two men’s faces filled the view beyond the latticed bars, blocking out the fluorescent light. Mio, who had been curled up small in the corner, quietly extended a front paw. Exclamations erupted simultaneously.
“Cute.”
“Seriously. Is he a mix? Have you ever seen a gray stray around here, Seunghyeon?”
What’s so cute about it? I just stuck my paw out.
He caught two distinct pheromones. Both were Alphas. Alphas were supposed to be rare — why do I keep tripping over them? Yu Cheongmyeong was one thing, but having so many Alphas around was not something Mio welcomed. He was sick to death of hearing about Alphas, Alphas, Alphas. Let’s just go home already.
Let me out!
He blinked his big round eyes and moved toward the bars. He let out a low purr, then gently placed a cute front paw — claws fully retracted — against the bars. Cheoryong clapped a hand over his mouth, overcome.
“Seunghyeon, did you see that? Did you see that? Just now?”
“He really is insanely cute. Let’s keep him at the clinic instead of at Yu Cheongmyeong’s place. That bastard disappears for months at a time because of missions anyway. He’s not qualified to own a pet.”
“I can handle all the litter box stuff.”
Ugh. No one asked. I handle that perfectly fine myself. Forget it — just open the door. Mio kicked at the door again with his front paw.
“Is he asking someone to open the door?”
Seunghyeon, dressed in a white shirt, absent-mindedly placed his hand on the latch. Mio’s eyes gleamed in the dark. The moment his hand released the lock and pulled open the solid barred door —
“Gyaah!”
Freedom at last!
Simultaneous with Cheoryong’s shriek, Mio’s small body shot out like a bolt of lightning. In the blink of an eye he’d crossed through the air like a bird, legs pumping in perfect sync as he bolted toward the glass door.
It’s open!!
The old, weathered glass door was barely cracked open — just wide enough that even a fist would have trouble squeezing through — but for a small cat, that gap was as grand as a palace entrance.
“Oh shit, we’re so dead.”
“Kitty!!”
Leaving the two men’s booming shouts behind him, Mio pushed his head through the gap in the glass door. Running away was something he was confident in. Mio had twenty years of experience as a cat. Leveraging the advantages of four nimble legs and finely tuned white whiskers, he had always been the winner whenever he played hide-and-seek with the neighborhood strays.
There was no time to take in the midday cityscape — Mio was already tearing down the asphalt, whiskers and fur streaming behind him, with the two men hot on his heels almost immediately.
“May! Kitty!”
God, how long are they going to keep following me?
When the irritation crested, Mio changed tactics. If I go somewhere only a cat can reach, I can shake them off easily. Sidestepping the chunks of black gum stuck to the pavement with elegant precision, Mio made a sharp corner and slipped underneath a parked car.
He pressed his body flat to the ground and hid, ears perked and alert. The fur along his back stood on end from the tension, and a white feather drifted past on the breeze. As he caught his breath, a voice laced with distress came from not far away.
“Kitty……! Where did you go……”
“God, Yu Cheongmyeong is going to kill us…… We’re so screwed.”
As expected — shaking off two people is nothing. And they were Alphas, no less — which made the satisfaction of getting one over on those supposedly exceptional humans so intoxicating it made his head spin. Drunk on triumph, he was just in the process of puffing his chest, lifting his chin, and holding his tail high —
